SB Nation - Gary Payton

BREAKING NEWS: The Thunder Acquire Matt Harpring and Eric Maynor from the Jazz for Free

Zorgon — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:19:18 -0000

That's right! He works for us now!

Credit to Mleetch352 for breaking this news to me.

All I can say is....HELLS YEAH!

The Thunder just basically robbed the Jazz blind by taking a expiring contract and a promising backup Point guard in Eric Maynor. What did we lose? Some fool. And by that, I really do mean some fool.

We lost the rights to Peter Fehse, a 2nd round draft pickfrom Germany. The pick was made in 2002, back when Gary Payton was still wearing Green. So really, it's not loss at all.

Granted, we did have to waive Mike Wilks and Shaun Livingston, but that's no biggie. It must really suck for the both of them to be told they're off the team right before this game starts, but hey, that's the business. Eric Maynor will compliment Ollie and Westbrook well. Wilks was just an emergency backup, and Livingston really wasn't playing like he used to. Kind of like a Westbrook-lite. Still, I wish only the best of luck for Livingston and Wilks. Both guys who played solid in pinches for this team.

Now, what can Maynor and Harpring contribute? Well, Maynor is obviously the man who's going to take over the backup point guard spot. It'll take him some time to get adjusted to the team, so Ollie might start in front of him at first, but he'll get that spot eventually. Will he ever take over for Westbrook? Well, that's a question that only time can answer.

Matt Harpring will most likely never be used. He's out for the season, and his contract expires at the end of it. I doubt we'll resign him unless we need a Small Forward to use in pinches. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see some Matt Harpring in action, but it's just not going to happen.

Eric Maynor's Yahoo Profile

Matt Harpring's Yahoo! Profile

I thought trades like this happened only in Sim Leagues, but I guess they happen in real life, too. I'm excited! Now, say it with me....THANK YOU SAM PRESTI!

Poll

Do you like this trade?

Brian Scalabrine Is Whatever You Want Him To Be

Jeff Clark — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:19:55 -0000

Brian Scalabrine has been loved and hated; valued and vilified; counted on and counted out.

He was brought in to be a veteran role playing leader. He became a punchline and a scapegoat. He was named on lists of "worst contracts." At one point fans started to give him the old Bronx cheer (cheering in jest).

Then somewhere along the line he became useful again. The cheers became genuine. People actually started counting on him. Now he's back to being a veteran role playing leader. His contract is actually an asset now because it is expiring this year.

The funny thing is, I don't think Brian Scalabrine has changed all that much. He's been poorly fit into an ever changing landscape during his tenure as a Celtic.

In the early years the starting lineup consisted of Paul Pierce, Ricky Davis, Marcus Banks, Raef LaFrentz, and Mark Blount. That lineup plus Gary Payton and Antoine Walker won 45 games and made the playoffs the year before Scal arrived. But Pierce had just pulled his jersey waving, head wrapped in bandages routine and the team was in serious need of some maturity. Scal was a key role player on some successful Nets teams. He was never supposed to be a go to guy, but he was supposed to fill in and be that steady hand off the bench.

Unfortunately that didn't work out. Whatever maturity he brought to the locker room was far outweighed by the strong personalities on that team. The squad quickly imploded and was rightly torn apart by Ainge as he shifted focus to a youth movement. On a team of early-twentysomethings, Scalabrine was once again a bad fit.

I'm not trying to make excuses for Scal, mind you. There were times when he played like he was trying to force it. Like he was trying to justify his contract. The losing and the fan reaction had to weigh on him and I think his play suffered from it. But every single person that's been around the team will tell you what a class guy he is. He never took it out on anyone, he just did his job.

So when the team got good again, he was able to step in and provide some valuable backup minutes at both of the forward positions. He even started for a few games in KG's absence 2 years ago (which allowed Doc to maintain most of his rotations). When the team added PJ Brown, Scal didn't complain when he was put on the inactive list. In fact, he delivered one of the funniest Finals post game interviews I can remember (pushing Kobe back a few minutes).

He was just getting rolling last year when multiple concussions derailed his season. It is a shame too, because a fully healthy Scal could have played the role of a poor man's Posey. In fact, I think that is one of the elements that Ainge was counting on last summer (along with Tony Allen's progression) that didn't play out as he had hoped.

So where does that leave us today? That depends. What do you want from Brian Scalabrine?

Do you want him to be a valuable backup forward? He can backup Pierce and also give us added depth at power forward. Do you want him to step aside and give more time to Bill Walker? Scal will happily tutor the young lad and wave a towel on the bench. Do you want to use his expiring contract to pick up a player at the trade deadline? Pair him with Tony Allen and you can swipe a $7M player away from a team hemorrhaging money (call it the Redhead Bailout Plan). Want him to play some point guard? Well, everyone has their limits.

I think Scal will help this team in a number of ways this year. He's also the kind of guy I'd like to see get into coaching when his career is over (like Sam Cassell). Here's hoping that he gets one more shot at that podium after the Finals.

Parallels

erivera7 — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:04:18 -0000

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

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Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy will be heading into his sixth season as the sideline general for an NBA team, and when looking at his body of work over the past few years, certain parallels arise. Let's take a quick breakdown, shall we?

The past: In his first year with the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic, Van Gundy helped both clubs increase its number of wins from its previous seasons by more than ten .. +17 for Miami, +12 for Orlando. In both years, the Heat and the Magic lost in the Eastern Conference Semifinals at the hands of a Central division foe.

In his second year with Miami and Orlando, Stan led both teams to a 59-23 record in the regular season and pushed the Heat & the Magic deeper into the playoffs. Had it not been for Dwyane Wade's rib injury in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, it's not outlandish to suggest Miami could have advanced to the NBA Finals. Of course, Orlando was able to attain such a feat this past season, only to lose.

After coming close to winning a championship, the Heat went out and retooled the roster during the off-season in 2005. Miami was able to acquire the following players via free agency and trade - Antoine Walker, Jason Kapono, Gary Payton, James Posey, Jason Williams, and Wayne Simien. Questions of chemistry arose prior to the beginning of the 2005-2006 season but the Heat were able to respond and capture the franchise's first NBA title, albeit, without Stan. Who knows if Miami would have won a championship had Pat Riley not replaced Van Gundy along the way?

However ..

The present: .. the premise remains the same. Like the Heat, the Magic came close to winning a championship this past season. As a result, the Orlando organization promptly opened up the checkbook and revamped the roster, trading for Ryan Anderson and Vince Carter, signing Matt Barnes and Brandon Bass, and bringing back Marcin Gortat. Already, there are those that are wondering whether or not the Magic's chemistry will be affected with the new acquisitions. Sound eerily familiar?

The future: It remains to be seen whether or not Stan Van Gundy guides the Orlando Magic to a title in his third season with the team. If it happens, it'd be a fitting way for things to come full circle for SVG after his saga with the Miami Heat.

RUMOR: Warriors interested in Terrence Williams aka "Gatorade-protector" with the #7 pick

Atma Brother ONE — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:15:30 -0000

The Golden State Warriors have been hosting a multi-team pre-draft workouts here in Oakland. 2009 Warriors Draft Central on Warriors.com has all the details and plenty of multimedia to get you overhyped about yet another lottery pick for this franchise.

Maybe it's just Nellie playing the media like he always does especially during draft time, but it seems like the Warriors are really interested in Louisville swingman Terrence Williams and the feeling is mutual.

Make the jump like TWill in this pic for the details. [via www.nku.edu]

In Don Nelson in the house, Terrence Williams livens it up, and other group workout notes [Talking Points] Tim Kawakami writes:

The buzz is that Williams has a promise from a team sitting mid-round. The Warriors have interest in Williams at No. 7, so they only have to worry about a promise from a team behind them if it prevents Williams from wanting to work out for the GSWs.

But Williams sounded very eager to land with the Warriors, mostly because of the style of play (and, I'd assume, getting drafted 7th vs. out of the top 10 means millions more dollars over the life of his rookie deal).

This is consistent with what Tim told us in our recent Q&A with him.

Tim's also got a great post-workout interview transcript Terrence Williams' Twitter-ish transcript: "I would love to be here".

-Q: Do you see yourself as a possible point-forward, since maybe the Warriors are looking at you for that?

-WILLIAMS: I think I fit great. If that's what they need, I'll play point-forward, center, Gatorade-protector, anything.

That's what I played in college. That's what I played in high school, played AAU, point-forward, the person that was not really the point guard but bring the ball up the court, run the offense. Yeah, I see myself as that.

Gatorade-protector? Move over Rob Kurz. Your job will soon be obsolete. Sorry man. It happens to even the best of us- just ask Adonal Foyle.

Protect the Gatorade.

-Q: At Louisville, did you end up guarding the toughest perimeter players?

-WILLIAMS: I guarded the best player. I guarded point guards some games. I guarded power forwards some games. And then some games, if the other teams really can't shoot, we'd just go into a zone.

I know the Warriors are already LOADED with defenders, but I'm sure Nellie can find a role for him.

Check out the rest of the interview transcript. TWill rolls with both Jamal Crawford and Gary Payton.

TWill Links

TheRealTWill on Twitter
Terrence Williams Pre-Draft Interview [Warriors.com]
Terrence Williams on Being a Point-Forward and the Airplane Market [FanHouse]
NBADraft.net Profile
Draft Express Profile
ESPN Draft Profile
FanShot by gorillas

Poll

Is Terrence Williams a good use of the Warriors' #7 pick?

YES: Bring TWill to the Bay!

279 votes

NO: That's too early to pick him (ahem, Darrius Heyward-Bey)

696 votes

975 votes | Poll has closed